UV sterilizer needed for reef tank

[Mark Henry]

Hello all!

Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for references and links.
I've been reading everything I can find for the past two weeks, as well
as talking to other reef keepers in my area.

I run a UV sterilizer my 75g freshwater upfront, but that's because it
gets direct sunlight through much of the day from skylights and indirect
from the room's windows and tends to have algae outbreaks if I don't run
one 24/7. However, the 50g tank in my office has never (knock on wood)
had an algae outbreak and it doesn't have a sterilizer - but then
there's only flourescent room lighting in the office.

Half the people (and references) I've talked to say I need a UV
sterilizer on a reef setup (no matter what room it's in), the other half
say no. So, what's the deal? Do I need a sterilizer or not?

Thanks!

mark h

[TheRock]

"Mark Henry" > wrote in message
om...
> Hello all!
>
> Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for references and links.
> I've been reading everything I can find for the past two weeks, as well as
> talking to other reef keepers in my area.
>
> I run a UV sterilizer my 75g freshwater upfront, but that's because it
> gets direct sunlight through much of the day from skylights and indirect
> from the room's windows and tends to have algae outbreaks if I don't run
> one 24/7. However, the 50g tank in my office has never (knock on wood) had
> an algae outbreak and it doesn't have a sterilizer - but then there's only
> flourescent room lighting in the office.
>
> Half the people (and references) I've talked to say I need a UV sterilizer
> on a reef setup (no matter what room it's in), the other half say no. So,
> what's the deal? Do I need a sterilizer or not?
>
> Thanks!
>
> mark h

I don't use one, but...Read here:
Protein Skimming, Ozone, and UV Use in Marine Filtration
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marphysf.htm

[kim gross]

Mark Henry wrote:
> Hello all!
>
> Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for references and links.
> I've been reading everything I can find for the past two weeks, as well
> as talking to other reef keepers in my area.
>
> I run a UV sterilizer my 75g freshwater upfront, but that's because it
> gets direct sunlight through much of the day from skylights and indirect
> from the room's windows and tends to have algae outbreaks if I don't run
> one 24/7. However, the 50g tank in my office has never (knock on wood)
> had an algae outbreak and it doesn't have a sterilizer - but then
> there's only flourescent room lighting in the office.
>
> Half the people (and references) I've talked to say I need a UV
> sterilizer on a reef setup (no matter what room it's in), the other half
> say no. So, what's the deal? Do I need a sterilizer or not?
>
> Thanks!
>
> mark h


Mark,

I think you will find that a lot of people are split on this. I would
say you do not need a UV, but they can help alot with pathogen controll.
The down side to a UV on a reef tank, is that since you have lots of
filterfeeders they need items to filter out of the water to eat.... the
UV will kill the items that flow through the UV so you will have less
food for your filter feeders. Now some of those items are bad things,
so the UV killing them can be very good. IE if you have a case of
sal****er ick, if the UV is setup correctly it can kill all of the ick
that flows through it and help to stop the spread. Personally I feel
that if you have a healthy reef tank, a UV is not needed at all, since
the filter feeders will filter the ick out of the water just like they
do everything else.

Kim Gross
www.jensalt.com

[George Patterson]

Mark Henry wrote:

> Half the people (and references) I've talked to say I need a UV
> sterilizer on a reef setup (no matter what room it's in), the other half
> say no. So, what's the deal? Do I need a sterilizer or not?

I would not say you *need* one, but I've kept at least one on my tank for about
30 years. It seems to reduce the number and severity of outbreaks of parasites
like ick.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[Wayne Sallee]

No you don't.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Mark Henry wrote on 12/11/2005 2:33 PM:
> Hello all!
>
> Thanks to everyone who responded to my request for references and links.
> I've been reading everything I can find for the past two weeks, as well
> as talking to other reef keepers in my area.
>
> I run a UV sterilizer my 75g freshwater upfront, but that's because it
> gets direct sunlight through much of the day from skylights and indirect
> from the room's windows and tends to have algae outbreaks if I don't run
> one 24/7. However, the 50g tank in my office has never (knock on wood)
> had an algae outbreak and it doesn't have a sterilizer - but then
> there's only flourescent room lighting in the office.
>
> Half the people (and references) I've talked to say I need a UV
> sterilizer on a reef setup (no matter what room it's in), the other half
> say no. So, what's the deal? Do I need a sterilizer or not?
>
> Thanks!
>
> mark h

[Pszemol]

"George Patterson" > wrote in message news:i96nf.14686$OK6.1492@trnddc03...
> I would not say you *need* one, but I've kept at least one on my tank for about
> 30 years. It seems to reduce the number and severity of outbreaks of parasites
> like ick.

Have you kept a comparable setup without UV for 30 years to say
the one with UV has reduced number and severity of outbreaks of parasites?

In other words, my question would be:
you claim it has reduced number and severity
of outbreaks compared to what number and what severity ?

[George Patterson]

Pszemol wrote:
> "George Patterson" > wrote in message
> news:i96nf.14686$OK6.1492@trnddc03...
>
>> I would not say you *need* one, but I've kept at least one on my tank
>> for about 30 years. It seems to reduce the number and severity of
>> outbreaks of parasites like ick.
>
> Have you kept a comparable setup without UV for 30 years to say
> the one with UV has reduced number and severity of outbreaks of parasites?

I have gone through periods without a working U/V on the tank. I saw more ick
during those periods, and it spread more rapidly.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.